Event 14
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Elite Eight/Final Four
After winning the first match against Giuseppe Pizzolato, Keith Morrow just scored his second win, which sends him into the ‘Heads Up Championship’ Final Four. The other three matches are still being decided though, with the George Cicak vs. Cate Hall match being the only that has already played through two rounds.
Matt Emmel has a 1-0 advantage in his ‘Heads Up Championship’ quarterfinal with Aaron Mermelstein.
They’re tied 1-1 while Matthew Emmel holds a 1-0 advantage on defending WPT WPO Champion Aaron Mermelstein. Ravi Dalsania also holds a 1-0 advantage in his match against Christopher Odle.
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle (1-0)
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel (0-1)
George Cicak vs. Cate Hall (1-1)
Giuseppe Pizzolato vs. Keith Morrow
It should be noted that the ‘Heads Up Championship’ will be live streamed as soon as this event is down to the Final Four. The appropriate YouTube and Twitch links will be posted on the WPO blog when they go live.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Elite Eight
Keith Morrow is off to a quick start on Day 2 of the ‘Heads Up Championship’. He’s already up 1-0 in his best of three match-up with Giuseppe Pizzolato after hitting a straight on the river against Pizzolato’s pocket aces.
The Event 14 ‘Heads Up Championship’ Elite Eight restarted play a half hour ago and through the first level and a half, we’ve seen a more or less stalemate in three of four match-ups. The exception to that rule, has been the battle between Giuseppe Pizzolato and Keith Morrow, with the latter jumping out to a quick 1-0 advantage in his quarterfinal match.
On a board of {Kc}{Qs}{6h}, the chips got in, as a shorter stacked PIzzolato was at risk with {Ad}{Ac} to Morrow’s {Jh}{10h}. The {7c} fell on the turn and Morrow had just one card to hit his open straight draw. He did, as the {Ac} spiked on the river, giving Pizzolato a set but Morrow the straight.
Their next game started up quickly and a few hands into that match, Pizzolato was all-in again on a board of {9s}{8h}{4h}{Qd}{2h}. Morrow was checked to on the river and bet 4,525, only to see Pizzolato move all-in for just under 15,000. Morrow went into the tank for close to two minutes and eventually folded {Qc}{9h}, bemoaning the fact that he “didn’t check back”.
That leaves him playing just over 10,000 in Game 2 of that match-up, with everyone else still locked in Game 1.
A complete list of those Elite Eight match-ups is provided below:
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel
George Cicak vs. Cate Hall
Giuseppe Pizzolato vs. Keith Morrow (0-1)
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Elite Eight
While the main focus of the WPO blog over the first few hours of the day will be on the $3,000,000 GTD WPT WPO Championship, the final trophy of ‘All-Star Weekend’ will be awarded today. Event 14 ‘Heads Up Championship’ returns with eight players remaining at 12 PM, with the Elite Eight all in the money.
This event’s Final Four and Championship rounds will be live streamed, with that stream beginning at 3 PM. The WPO blog will track this field through the quarterfinals, with more in-depth coverage beginning when we are into the semi-finals.
A complete list of those Elite Eight match-ups is provided below:
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel
George Cicak vs. Cate Hall
Giuseppe Pizzolato vs. Keith Morrow
After yesterday’s jam packed schedule saw six Winter Poker Open titles awarded, ‘All-Star Weekend’ is going to end on a slow note but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be plenty of action. Quiet the contrary actually, as the Event 14 ‘Heads Up Championship’ returns with it’s Elite Eight at 12 PM and Day 1A of the WPT WPO Championship begins at 11 AM.
That WPT Championship event will be the main focus of the WPO blog over the next week, culminating on Friday with a live streamed final table. There is still a long way to go before then, including awarding six more WPO trophies, the first of which will be claimed today.
That will be in the ‘Heads Up Championship’, which will also be lived stream, starting in the Final Four. Eight players will return at 12 PM and while those matches won’t be filmed or streamed, the semi-finals and finals will be. Information on that restart will be posted shortly, while the anticipation of the WPT WPO Championship builds until 11 AM…
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
All of the Round of 16 matches are completed and an updated bracket is above. The final eight players are all in the money and guaranteed to earn at least $6,208.
Here are the final eight players and their match-ups for tomorrow’s Day 2 competition, which will begin at 12pm Sunday.
Ravi Dalsania vs. Christopher Odle
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Matthew Emmel
George Cicak vs. Cate Hall
Giuseppe Pizzolato vs. Keith Morrow
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight
With the majority of the Winter Poker Open final tables coming to a near simultaneous end, we’re now able to jump back to the heads up area to bring you another ‘Heads Up Championship’ update.
All Round of 64 and Round of 32 matches are complete and the tournament area is now left with just a few tables still running, as players try to get into the Elite Eight. The Sweet Sixteen is the money bubble of this event, as well as the end of Day 1. Once players win their half of their quarter of the bracket, they’re done for the day and for three players, that is already the case.
Christopher Odle is already into the money, as he went through WPT BPO Championship winner David Paredes, Tyler Patterson and Brian Reinert to lock up the first seat in the Elite Eight.
George Cicak rolled through his first three match ups and he now awaits Cate Hall tomorrow, as she just finished her Sweet Sixteen match with Rahul Sabineni. Neither Morrow sits at the bottom of that bracket and will face the winner of Scott Horowitz and Giuseppe Pizzolato in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
A complete list of the remaining matches is provided below, with each player in bold representing players in the Sweet Sixteen. Morrow, Odle, Cicak and Hall’s names are followed by an * to signify that they are done for the night and will return tomorrow in the money and with a shot at a WPO title.
Theodoros Manolatos vs. Chad Eveslage
Steven Sarmiento vs. Hye Park
Sam Panzica vs. Brian Reinert
Christopher Odle* vs. Tyler Patterson
Andy Spears vs. Anthony Newman
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Andrew Gileno
Sirous Jamshidi vs. Matthew Emmel
Yevgeniy Timoshenko vs. Christopher McNamara
Joshua Rosengarten vs. George Cicak*
Ryan Olisar vs. Alan Schein
Alexander Queen vs. Cate Hall*
Travis Greenawalt vs. Rahul Sabbineni
Scott Horowitz vs. Tanner Millen
Dan Weinman vs. Giuseppe Pizzolato
Keith Morrow* vs. Jeremy Abrams
William Kakon vs. Matthew Cooper
Since they have yet to be posted, here are the official ‘Heads Up Championship’ payouts:
- $49,664
- $24,832
- $12,416
- $12,416
- $6,208
- $6,208
- $6,208
- $6,208
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 21 (6,000/12,000/1,000)
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 14
Chip Average: 484,000
While we’ve probably run the ‘All-Star Weekend’ theme into the ground, there is something to be said before the Friday/Saturday schedule before the World Poker Tour arrives on the last Sunday of every Borgata Poker Open series. The biggest events run and, in turn, biggest players make their way to Atlantic City to battle for not only WPO titles but also bragging rights.
Prior to his WSOP Main Event win this summer, Joe McKeehen claimed the 2014 BPO ‘Heads Up Championship’ title. He was unable to play that event today because of his ‘$1,000 Six Max’ run and will now try to spin up a short stack on the other side of dinner.
The two biggest bragging rights events are the ‘$1,000 Six Max’ and the ‘Heads Up Championship’, events that usually run simultaneously with one another. It’s a scheduling conflict but to fit in all the bigger events, some high buy-in events need to overlap.
Unfortunately, that overlap and two deep runs have kept Anthony Zinno and Joe McKeehen from defending their past BPO ‘Heads Up Championship’ titles. Zinno claimed that title in September and the year before, prior to becoming WSOP Main Event champion, McKeehen won the ‘Heads Up Championship’ in 2014. Now, they’re both back from the dinner break of the ‘$1,000 Six Max’, playing for the better part of a $300,000 prize pool.
Last year was the #YearOfZinno and among WSOP, WPT and EPT wins, Anthony Zinno added another BPO title to his trophy case. That came in September’s ‘Heads Up Championship’ and even though he couldn’t defend his title, he’s now trending towards another BPO win, as he’s above average with 14 left in Event 11.
Zinno joked earlier today about possibly multi-tabling both events but eventually decided against it. He’s glad he did, as he’s back from the dinner break with just over 500,000. McKeehen has seen his stock drop while Zinno’s has risen, as he’ll return with just over ten big blinds.
While each would have certainly liked to defend their past victories and, potentially, add to their already nearly full trophy cases, they’re not complaining about the current runs their making. Who knows, maybe they’ll walk away with the Event 11 ‘$1,000 Six Max’ title and have another event to defend the next time the WPT comes back to Borgata…
The Event 11 ‘$1,000 Six Max’ will now resume after an hour dinner break with Level 21. There are currently 14 players remaining and a complete redraw will take place when we are down to seven.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Round of 64/32
‘Heads Up Championships’ are always interesting, as some matches progress slowly, while others are over sooner, rather than later. So far, a decent amount of the Round of 64 matches have been completed and the majority of the surviving field is now battling it out in the Round of 32.
An updated look at the bracket is provided below and on the other side of the Event 11 and Event 12 dinner breaks, coverage of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ will resume with more timely updates.
Theodoros Manolatos vs. Ravi Dalsania
Chad Eveslage vs. Kevin Campbell
Darren Elias vs. Steven Sarmiento
Sidney Zweigbaum vs. Hye Park
Sam Panzica vs. Hunter Cichy
Brian Reinert* vs. Michael Millikin
Christopher Odle vs. David Paredes
Patrick McLaughlin vs. Tyler Patterson
Linda Kenney-Baden vs. Andy Spears
Jake Schwartz vs. Anthony Newman
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Michael Shklover
Craig Bergeron vs. Andrew Gileno
Sirous Jamshidi vs. Frank Moir
Carl Tirella vs. Matthew Emmel
Chris Limo vs. Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Christopher McNamara vs. Joey Couden
Joshua Rosengarten vs. Joseph ‘Mush’ Galazzo
George Cicak vs. Michael Vela
Aaron Rogers vs. Ryan Olisar*
Adi Prasetyo vs. Alan Schein
Alexander Queen vs. Kevin Burlew
Cate Hall vs. Brian Haas
Ranson Nelson vs. Travis Greenawalt
Rahul Sabbineni vs. Scott Baumstein
Scott Horowitz vs. Justin Adams
Bariscan Betil vs. Tanner Millen
Justin Oliver vs. Giuseppe Pizzolato*
Dan Weinman vs. Kane Kalas
Keith Morrow vs. Kevin Eyster
Jeremy Abrams vs. David Zemel
Joseph Renzi vs. Matthew Cooper
Wiliam Kakon vs. Jeffrey Blenkarn
It should be noted that all bolded players have advanced to the Round of 32 and players with an * next to their name, are into the Sweet Sixteen.
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Round of 64
While our two 12 PM restarts quickly played down into the money and thinned their respective fields, the 1 PM start of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ has brought with it much less movement. That’s not surprising though, as these events are usually a grind and matches can take upwards of a few hours.
Almost three hours after that start though, there are some Round of 64 matches that have been decided, with those winners bolded below:
Theodoros Manolatos vs. Ravi Dalsania
Chad Eveslage vs. Kevin Campbell
Darren Elias vs. Steven Sarmiento
Sidney Zweigbaum vs. Hye Park
Sam Panzica vs. Hunter Cichy
Brian Reinert vs. Michael Millikin
Christopher Odle vs. David Paredes
Patrick McLaughlin vs. Tyler Patterson
Linda Kenney-Baden vs. Andy Spears
Jake Schwartz vs. Anthony Newman
Aaron Mermelstein vs. Michael Shklover
Craig Bergeron vs. Andrew Gileno
Sirous Jamshidi vs. Frank Moir
Carl Tirella vs. Matthew Emmel
Chris Limo vs. Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Christopher McNamara vs. Joey Couden
Joshua Rosengarten vs. Joseph ‘Mush’ Galazzo
George Cicak vs. Michael Vela
Aaron Rogers vs. Ryan Olisar
Adi Prasetyo vs. Alan Schein
Alexander Queen vs. Kevin Burlew
Cate Hall vs. Brian Haas
Ranson Nelson vs. Travis Greenawalt
Rahul Sabbineni vs. Scott Baumstein
Scott Horowitz vs. Justin Adams
Bariscan Betil vs. Tanner Millen
Justin Oliver vs. Giuseppe Pizzolato
Dan Weinman vs. Kane Kalas
Keith Morrow vs. Kevin Eyster
Jeremy Abrams vs. David Zemel
Joseph Renzi vs. Matthew Cooper
Wiliam Kakon vs. Jeffrey Blenkarn
Event 14 – $2,000 ‘Heads Up Championship’
Round of 64
The first half of the ‘Heads Up Championship’ bracket has been posted and now, we’re bringing you the second half of that bracket. We’re rolling out the same structure, splitting the second half of the field into groups and highlighting a player from each.
Adi Prasetyo finished runner-up in the ‘Pot Limit Omaha’ event last weekend but he likely won’t be able to play in today’s PLO event, as he’s going for a ‘Heads Up Championship’ cash instead.
Joshua Rosengarten vs. Joseph ‘Mush’ Galazzo
George Cicak vs. Michael Vela
Aaron Rogers vs. Ryan Olisar
Adi Prasetyo vs. Alan Schein
Travis Greenawalt has finished 2nd in two BPO ‘Heads Up Championship’ events, making him a serious threat every time this one on one tournament comes on the schedule.
Alexander Queen vs. Kevin Burlew
Cate Hall vs. Brian Haas
Ranson Nelson vs. Travis Greenawalt
Rahul Sabbineni vs. Scott Baumstein
We highlighted Darren Elias in the opening ‘Heads Up Championship’ post and the player he defeated to win his first WPT title was Kane Kalas. The Philadelphia native has just under $1,000,000 in career earnings and he’ll hope to jump over that number this weekend.
Scott Horowitz vs. Justin Adams
Bariscan Betil vs. Tanner Millen
Justin Oliver vs. Giuseppe Pizzolato
Dan Weinman vs. Kane Kalas
Kevin Eyster has never cashed in a BPO event but he’s amassed over $4,000,000 in career earnings. That number includes his recent seven-figure score, which came when he won the WPT Five Diamond Classic in December.
Keith Morrow vs. Kevin Eyster
Jeremy Abrams vs. David Zemel
Joseph Renzi vs. Matthew Cooper
Wiliam Kakon vs. Jeffrey Blenkarn